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Bruce Arians, first-time NFL head coach, is going back to where he was head coach for the first time — Philadelphia, where he lead Temple University back from 1983 to 1988. And the place and the job that Arians said “almost killed me.”

“I was in the hospital about seven times my last season,” Arians said. “When I was only 36 I felt like I was about 86. Stress will do funny things to you. I had a bunch of migraines every week, and I got fired and never had another one in my life.

“I tried to do too much. The one thing that I learned was that if I ever got a job again, and it took a little while, but I would learn to delegate. I was the head coach, offensive coordinator, quarterback coach, recruitment coordinator, I had my hands on the defense and special teams, so I was trying to do everything and I felt as if it was my job. I’ve learned now to let other people do their jobs, and they’re more than qualified to do them, and relax.”

Defensive coordinator Todd Bowles played for Arians at Temple, and the former safety was one of Arians’ captains.

“He was a good coach from the south,” Bowles said. “He came from Alabama where they ran the option and the veer and played eight-man fronts. He got up to Temple and played an eight-man front, and we were playing against (Doug) Flutie, (Dan) Marino and the other guys. It just wasn’t working. It was like, ‘Coach, we’re up east now, you’ve got to change.’ But he was outstanding. He was hard on us but he was fair, just like he is now. He’s very honest. He tells you when you’re good and when you’re bad.”

Arians is 61 now, finally enjoying his second head coaching job that he wasn’t sure would ever come. The Cardinals leave for the Eagles game Friday, and the team will hold their Saturday morning walkthrough at Temple.

“It’ll be fun,” Arians said. “Hopefully I’ll see some of the pictures when I had hair. But, yeah, it’s always fun going back. Temple kids are extremely dear to me. Those six years were fabulous. Probably stayed in touch with them more than any other college players I’ve ever coached. That group of guys, some were on my staff, I’ve coached with a bunch of them.”

— Here’s what the Cardinals are not giving thanks for on Thanksgiving: Running back Andre Ellington being put on the injury report as limited with a knee problem. He wasn’t on there Wednesday, so I’d guess it happened Thursday, but we won’t know until Arians talks Friday. The Cards need Ellington.

— A good story by SI’s Jim Trotter on the improving Cards’ offense. It’s something I wrote about earlier in the week, but it was interesting to hear Carson Palmer saying the mental error list was a page-and-a-half much of the season and now it is down to a quarter page. Another Palmer quote on the early-season offense: “It was a mess.”

8 Responses
to “Arians revisits Temple (and Ellington hurt)”

Many fans were pining over Horton. Now, it was mentioned earlier that he would never be able to work for Arians for obvious reasons. He wanted to be the HC. A quiet mutiny would would have ensued. Let’s put this chatter to bed now:

TODD BOWLES is the MAN !!!!

And Arians looks like a genius for picking him… I like him w/o hair…it does not grow on a busy street!!! All these happenings are not just lucky coincidences this season. Some good fortune, yes, but Arians has proven that he is incredibly capable.

Let’s just hope that Ells is just bruised up and can recover quickly. He is the epitome of “work ethic.” !!! We have not seen that in our RB’s for a long time.

Off to dine today… Have a Good Thanksgiving today…. I’m remembering Tillman…

Earlier Mr. Urban wrote an excellent article on the 2nd-round Minter biding his time. Why not showcase 2nd-round pick Williams a little more? Wiliams’ stats when he was healthy were poor (2.8 yd/carry). Mr. Mendenhall’s current 3.0 yds/carry is not tremendously better. Why not give Williams some carries as Ellington is hurt? Is Williams more of a Mendenhall-type player as opposed to an Ellington-type player? Is Williams trade-worthy?

I assume Williams’ contract is big enough not to release him, but not too big for him to sit down.

Jim Trotter’s SI article is a great chronology of our team’s growth. I can think of all the occasions where I disagreed and sometimes despaired over decisions that I could only observe from the outside looking in. I remember the last time we went to Philly and got ‘waxed’ as Wolf says. We now go in there with their former DC and we’re bringing the guy who called the plays for that last drive in our Super Bowl, including those last two pass plays left to the corner and then right to win. Philadelphia said good riddance to Todd Bowles and blamed him for their roadkill defense. What a homecoming Mr. Bowles will live through this week. Don’t be surprised if the D doesn’t go all out for him. A lot of opportunities are coming up for Mr. Mendenhall to get his first 100 yard game. We’re on a run with a hot QB and BA who wants to go deep. Thanks Darren for letting us fans through the door to take a look at what’s really going on with the Cards. This is fun!

could be we give them a dose of mendy and then a dose of stepfan,with everybody healthy we should have a speed reciever to keep the field spread,work our newfound te’s and we should be good to go.i’m thinking their defense is just as worried about our offense as we are about theirs.

what’s the odds of ba growing back his stache to match up with palmer,would be
a nice complement for the playoffs.

i can only hope that’s the mindset of our defense and just totally stifle them,won’t be easy under the circumstances,but neither will the upcoming division games,bring your best…make us prove ourselves…make us stronger.